TWO ALS UNITE FOR CHANGE!
Vice President Gore To Join Franken At DFL Founders Day Dinner 10/4
Saint Paul [09/17/08] - The Minnesota DFL Party and the Al Franken for Senate campaign announced today that former Vice President Al Gore will visit Minnesota on Saturday, October 4 to campaign for Al Franken and the DFL ticket at the annual Founders Day Dinner.
Wondering what it was like to be working on the floor of the DFL State Convention this weekend? TeamFranken Intern Anne shares her experience:
Energy and excitement were bursting from the bustling convention center and Team Franken didn’t waste a moment before getting to work. The energy, cheering, demonstrations, organized chaos, and behind the scenes action helped contribute to the weekend’s success, but so much has been done over the past year to make it possible. Al’s acceptance of the DFL endorsement was the culmination of countless hours of hard work and sleepless nights and was the reward for all the people who contributed to the campaign in so many ways. I was honored to be a part of Team Franken this past weekend and am excited to move ahead towards the general election!
Here is an excerpt from Al’s DFL Endorsement Acceptance Speech. The full text is after the jump.
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We’re going to canvass until our feet hurt, and when our feet hurt, we’ll start picking up the phone, start phone-banking. We’re going to get up early and stay up late.
And we’re going to do it because five million Minnesotans need a voice in Washington, and they don’t have one in Norm Coleman.
On issue after issue, he hasn’t brought people together to get things done – he’s sold people out to get ahead.
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Just moments ago, Al spoke to the DFL State Convention. Below is a highlight; read the full speech after the jump.
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We are here, each and every one of us, to take a stand for five million people – the mothers and the fathers and the teachers and the firefighters and the farmers and the veterans and the children of this state – every Minnesotan who needs a voice in Washington.
We are here to take a stand for the college student graduating with that crushing burden of debt. For the steelworker fearing his pension won’t be there when he retires. For the farmer wondering if he’ll be able to pass the rural way of life on to the next generation. For the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines serving overseas and the communities waiting to welcome them home.
We are here to take a stand not because politics is easy, not because we’re hungry for power, not because we think we have all the answers, but because at this moment in our history, our neighbors need a Senator who has their back, and Norm Coleman isn’t even on their side.
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The campaign’s week-long focus on the emerging green economy concluded with a “Green Jobs Showcase” held at the campaign headquarters. On display were a variety of homegrown items and technologies, ranging from “plastic” toys composed primarily of recycled rubber to a vinyl tile made from recycled carpet that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Ice cream was served, but even this frozen treat was done in a sustainable way. The ingredients were all locally grown and produced, and both the bowls and spoons were made from biomass sources, are entirely biodegradable - and were sent to be composted at the end of the event.
Full text of Al’s speech from the April 27th Green Jobs Showcase:
I don’t think I have to tell anybody here about our energy crisis.
Here in Minnesota, we know the cost of Washington’s failure to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
We feel that cost every time we fill up the tank.
We feel that cost every time we pay the heat bill or the electric bill.
We feel the cost when the price of everything rises because the trucks that carry our food and our products to the store have to fill up, too.
